Abstract : This paper is concerned with theoretical and methodological issues involved in attempting to predict and measure what impact social change has upon the value systems of residents of developing countries. It is hypothesized that strong economic pressures will cause values to shift toward beliefs consistent with a money economy and away from those consistent with a traditional, subsistance, economy. Often, the shift will be masked or muted to permit residents to reconcile reality with an emotionally laden residue from their traditional past. A theory is provided to describe the process of change and to evolve measurable features of it. The remainder of the paper covers in some detail numerous methodological problems encountered in such research. Means of circumventing these problems are also discussed.